‘AstraZeneca ditches vaccine plant’ and Trump’s EU tariff threat
A variety of stories feature on Saturday’s front pages. The Financial Times leads with the news that pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has cancelled a £450m manufacturing plant in the UK after “months of wrangling over state support for the project”. The paper says Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer wanted to reduce the £90m in public money that had been promised by the previous government. It says the news has dealt a “blow to the government’s growth agenda”, adding that the plant was going to “make the next generation of flu vaccines and help UK resilience against future pandemics”.
The i reports that 57% of UK voters back a youth mobility scheme that would allow under-30s to live and work in the EU, with just 14% against. It says half are also in favour of closer trade ties with the EU, compared to 33% against, though adds that there is growing scepticism about the UK’s membership of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Writing for the Daily Express to mark the fifth anniversary of Brexit, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accuses Sir Keir of wanting to “tie Britain up in EU red tape, give away fishing rights and edge back to the freedom of movement of people”. She pledges to “honour the will of the British people”, adding: “I am committed to fighting to defend our freedoms and protecting Brexit”.
People on long-term sickness benefits will be required to work and may see their benefits cut as part of an “overhaul” of welfare being planned by ministers, according to the Times. The paper says Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall wants to encourage people back to work to “control a ballooning welfare bill”. In an interview for the paper, former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair argues that a digital ID system and facial recognition cameras could help tackle crime and illegal immigration – and in the process help the opponents of populism defeat it.
The Daily Telegraph quotes US President Donald Trump saying he “absolutely” will impose trade tariffs on the European Union and accusing the bloc of “treating us so terribly”. Trump has already announced 25% tariffs on goods coming into the US from neighbours Mexico and Canada as well as 10% tariffs on China. The paper says the measures have prompted “fears of a global trade war and inflation crisis”.
Trump has “sparked a new gold rush” as American investors spooked by the prospect of tariffs “snaffle all of Britain’s bullion”, according to the Daily Star.
The Daily Mail says Prince Andrew “faces fresh pressure” after it emerged he e-mailed Jeffrey Epstein telling him that the two would “play some more soon” weeks after he has claimed to have cut ties with the paedophile financier. The paper further quotes Andrew telling Epstein to “keep in close touch” and says the messages, which were revealed in court documents, suggest “Andrew may have lied in his infamous Newsnight interview”.
And the Guardian carries a piece from its reporter in Gaza, Malak Tantesh, who was among the thousands of people able to return to their homes in northern Gaza this week following the ceasefire deal. She describes an exhausting walk to Gaza City, much of it without water, and walking through “a ghost town” in what used to be a “fancy enclave for the city’s rich”. Of arriving at her family’s home, she writes: “The only things still standing were the trunks of a walnut tree, and some olive trees that used to be in our yard. Our home was a three-storey building, and the levels had collapsed on top of each other like layers in a cake. Nothing had survived. My memories, my family’s memories and everything we owned have all been crushed and buried.”
A variety of stories feature on Saturday’s front pages.
The Financial Times leads on AstraZeneca’s decision to scrap plans for a new vaccine manufacturing plant in Liverpool, calling it “a blow to the government’s growth agenda”. The paper says executives have warned that policies pursued by the government will make the UK a less attractive place to invest.
The Times says it has seen letters which show that AstraZeneca asked for assurances about the plant as soon as Labour took office, but did not get a result for months. The Daily Mail calls the news a “sharp setback” for the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves. The paper’s City editor, Alex Brummer, says AstraZeneca was a hero of the pandemic and that failing to support its project “makes a nonsense” of the government’s goal of turning Britain into a science powerhouse.
Ministers are working on an overhaul of welfare which could mean the long-term sick are required to look for work, according to the Times. The paper predicts that hundreds of thousands of people might have their sickness benefits cut. It says Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer could be pitched into a bitter fight with his party, with changes likely to anger Labour’s base.
The Daily Mail says Prince Andrew “faces fresh pressure” after an email emerged undermining his claims about when he broke contact with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. It calls the revelations a “bombshell” and in its editorial says they further underline how the Duke of York is a “dangerous liability” to the monarchy.
The Sun speaks of a “humiliation” for Prince Andrew, while the Daily Mirror concludes that “the more we learn, the worse it appears to get for the Prince and the Royal Family”.
The front page of the Guardian features an account by its reporter in Gaza of her return to the territory. Malak Tantesh says she felt she could have “flown away with joy” when the road was finally opened. But she describes the dust, and exhaustion of the journey, and says that when she realised the family home was now rubble it was like being “stabbed in the heart”. “My memories, and everything we owned”, she says, “have all been crushed and buried”.
York Minster faced a backlash from parishioners over plans to hold a metal gig in its nave
The Daily Telegraph carries an article by Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust, who the paper describes as “Britain’s most eminent social mobility expert”. Sir Peter, who attended the same grammar school as Sir Keir, accuses the prime minister of denying poorer students the opportunities by imposing VAT on private schools. A government spokesman said the tax change would provide extra money for state schools, where 94% of children are educated.
The Guardian reports on problems surrounding a rock concert scheduled to take place in York Minster in April. It’s just the latest attempt by churches to open up to more people, but parishioners have complained after discovering that two members of the band, Plague of Angels, used to belong to Cradle of Filth, a metal group whose merchandise included a lewd t-shirt featuring a nun. One churchgoer said the concert was an insult. A cathedral spokesman said the event, intended to showcase the Minster’s refurbished organ, would “align with its values”. The band’s guitarist apologised and confirmed that the two members deeply regret their involvement in Cradle of Filth.
President Donald Trump promised to lower prices for groceries, including eggs. But one crack in his plan is that egg prices haven’t fallen since he took office on January 20. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in her first on-camera news briefing on January 28, blamed that on former President Joe Biden’s “inflationary policies”. Leavitt
Good morning. It is Saturday, Feb. 1. Let’s look back at the week in Opinion. When Donald Trump stood behind the presidential seal Thursday and, in one breath, said what you’d expect from a leader when bodies are still being pulled out of a river after a plane crash, and in another railed against diversity
Birthday wishes go out to Harry Styles, Ronda Rousey and all the other celebrities with birthdays today. Check out our slideshow below to see photos of famous people turning a year older on February 1st and learn an interesting fact about each of them. Top celebrity birthdays on February 1, 2025 FILE – Actor Garrett
Trump describes Ukraine war as ‘bullets whacking and hitting men’ For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Ukraine has launched its second drone attack this week against
Halle and Berlin, Germany CNN — “You have to make a decision. Do you want to have the party of [Chancellor] Olaf Scholz and all those eunuchs? Or are you on our side, with Elon Musk and Donald Trump? Which side has more sex appeal?” This was Maximilian Krah, a highly controversial and outspoken, far-right
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A letter submitted to the U.S. Senate that states it was sent by physicians in support of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as secretary of Health and Human Services includes the names of doctors who have had their licenses revoked, suspended or faced other discipline, The Associated Press has found. The
Trump administration officials began releasing significant amounts of water from two dams in California’s Central Valley on Friday in a move that seemed intended to make a political point as President Trump continued to falsely blame the Los Angeles wildfires on water policies in the Democratic-run state. The releases, as ordered, have sent water toward
President Trump speaks to journalists in the Oval Office on Friday. A federal judge in Rhode Island has issued an order blocking the administration’s efforts to freeze some federal spending. Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images A judge with the U.S. District Court for the District of
Richard Grenell, President Trump’s envoy for special missions, said on social media that he was flying home from Venezuela with six American detainees on Friday, after meeting with the country’s president. There were at least nine people with U.S. citizenship or residency detained in Venezuela, according to Venezuelan officials. The government had accused some of
Donald Trump‘s administration has responded to Selena Gomez‘s since-deleted video of herself crying over the deportation of undocumented immigrants under the president’s aggressive new approach to immigration. This month, in an Instagram video that was quickly taken down, the actress and singer said as tears poured down her face, “All my people are getting attacked
Super Bowl 59 is set to bring the who’s who of Hollywood to New Orleans with a blockbuster matchup between Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs and Jalen Hurts’ Philadelphia Eagles. Mahomes and Hurts have become celebrities in their own right, but the quarterbacks aren’t the only A-listers willing their respective teams to victory. From Taylor
Laura Bicker China correspondent Reporting fromJiangsu, China, and Phnom Penh, Cambodia Inside the factories that could be hit by Trump’s China tariffs A hiss and puff of compressed air shapes the smooth leather, bringing to life an all-American cowboy boot in a factory on China’s eastern coast. Then comes another one as the assembly line
George and Amal Clooney, one of Hollywood’s most iconic couples, are reportedly facing some challenges as they approach their 11th wedding anniversary. With George, 63, currently tied up with his Broadway debut in New York and Amal, 46, primarily based in Europe for her work as a human rights lawyer, their busy schedules have created
By James Gatto and Maxwell Earp-Thomas ( January 31, 2025, 4:08 PM EST) — Yet another “celebrity”-backed token has become the subject of a lawsuit alleging that the tokens were unregistered securities.[1]… Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments
The 67th annual Grammy Awards are happening this weekend, and just ahead of the show, host Trevor Noah is giving fans a look into which celebrities are sitting where. In a video posted to his social media, Noah is in Grammy mode during his rehearsals as he his making his way through the room, which
Kash Patel, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of the FBI, looks on as he testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 30, 2025. Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters Trump Media this week gifted thousands of shares of company stock to President Donald Trump‘s nominee for
Image via AP Photo/Seth Wenig The Super Bowl 2025 is just over a week away and emotions are on the rise as two of the strongest teams in the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, go against each other on 9th February. Super Bowl is one of the most watched events in
Celebrity culture has always been a thing in America, but it has gotten worse in the age of social media, and parasocial relationships are the byproduct of that increasing interest. Combine that with the false belief that the wealthy are somehow smarter or more in tune with everyday life simply because they are rich, and
中國 AI 新創公司 DeepSeek 近期推出標榜低成本的 AI 模型，在全球掀起關注，其中有不少讚譽有加的評論。對此，Meta 執行長馬克祖克柏（Mark Zuckerberg）在財報電話會議上表示，目前評估 DeepSeek 對科技產業的影響還言之過早！ 延伸閱讀：DeepSeek 問世掀起熱潮！「AI 界大黑馬」引發美國科技巨頭恐慌！ Meta 執行長馬克祖克柏認為評斷 DeepSeek 還言之過早 祖克柏認為，當前 AI 技術正處於快速發展的階段，許多關鍵趨勢同時發生，因此無法立即判斷 DeepSeek 是否會對 Meta 或整體產業帶來重大變革。然而，他強調 Meta 仍在持續研究 DeepSeek 的技術，並將探索如何將其應用於自家 AI 計畫，他在會議上坦言：「這就是科技發展的本質，不論競爭對手來自何處，包括中國。」
您已經閒置超過3分鐘囉！
本區域為限制級，未滿18歲不得瀏覽！
As President Donald Trump threatens to impose his first tranche of tariffs on the world Saturday, Chinese manufacturers are bracing for impact. Though Trump is pledging to take his biggest initial swing at Canada and Mexico with a proposed 25% tariff, the U.S. president has suggested China is still on his radar. Earlier this month,
